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Attempting To Do Too Much

17:47:08

Big headache. Attempting to do too much and ignoring warning signs and timetable. Going for a fatigue nap.

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21:34:27

Awake around 2000. Yesterday I was very positive. Today is a great effort to put myself in gear. The arrival of the 30 pound insurance company document package likely has a bearing. Earlier today I began the document review and completely forgot about my limits.

When I work on household chores, a task category I label as “putting around,” I can go 4, almost 5 hours, before hitting the fatigue boundary. When I perform tasks with a high level of cognitive exertion, I reach my limit at between 3.5 and 4 hours. I will feel the onset at 3.5 hours and, if I do not switch to a less demanding task, then I can expect the onset of headache just after the 4 hour mark. I take this as the cue to go for a walk. Walking appears to deliver some form of restorative benefit and I may be able to perform another 1 or 2 hours of low cognitive effort activity before I finally burn out.

With high cognitive effort activity, the walk has little apparent effect. I went for a walk today and resumed high cognitive effort activity on my return only to hit the headache wall. I was then forced into taking a fatigue nap.

More Projects

I am attempting a greater mix of projects and activities then I performed in the past. In the acute phase after the accident I only did one thing – I dedicated all of my time to a job search. Nothing else was done. Once I learned of the injury, all of my time was devoted to creating submissions for the insurance company. Nothing else was done. Since February of 2015, all of my time has been devoted to creating TAQ submissions. Nothing else was done.

The window replacement forced me to adjourn the submission activity. It also forced me into the recognition that the house was in chaos. Since the middle of August, I have spent most of my time on a variety of projects. These include the following:

Window Blind Replacement

This is 90% complete. I need to hang the blind and the adjustment mechanism.

Clothes Sort

I am going through all of my clothes and identifying those items I no longer wear. In the majority of cases this is because the item no longer fits. Some items of clothing are associated with activities such as bicycling that I no longer perform. Unwanted garments are being donated to the St Vincent de Paul charity.

Paper Sort

In addition to accident related materials, I also have a large number of files related to past work activities. I have binders full of technical materials that I put together while with Gargantua. I have stacks of documentation related to a small business development consultancy that I attempted to get off the ground in Halifax. There are also boxes of reports created while with BVO. Then there are past tax records, investment papers, and miscellaneous documents. All of these are being sorted by category and once this is done, I anticipate culling the documents which are no longer relevant, or necessary.

One of the things I find myself doing is I will deviate from the task at hand and commence a task that is highly routinized, a task which may be performed endlessly. I am drawn to this type of task like a moth to a flame. The problem is this form of highly routine task, while absorbing, does not serve any priority goal. When I sidetrack into routine activity I am able to while away an entire day in the performance of work which, while not entirely meaningless, is not particularly beneficial.